To keep Worley or not
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To keep Worley or not
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Later today, the Phillies expect to receive encouraging news on two-fifths of their starting rotation.
Roy Oswalt is expected to rejoin the team after spending a week with his family in tornado-ravaged Mississippi. He will throw a bullpen and is slotted as the starter for Saturday's game against Atlanta.
Joe Blanton will pitch off a mound for the first time in 12 days. The impingement in his right elbow that forced a disabled list stint is feeling better -- so much so that the Phillies and Blanton do not anticipate a minor-league rehab assignment.
Those developments would leave Vance Worley without a spot in the starting rotation, and rightfully so. Worley, of course, has been very good in 12 innings. The first start against New York was decent. The progression to start No. 2 was even better and that is the most encouraging thing.
But it shows Worley fully remains in the developmental stage, as he should. Worley is 23 and began 2010 at double-A Reading. His off-speed pitches are coming along, but they are not refined. That will come with more work.
The best argument for demoting Worley is for developmental reasons and it is hard to disagree. Worley best helps the 2011 Phillies as starting rotation insurance. Keeping him in the bullpen because of his effectiveness likely would not benefit team or pitcher. Sure, Danys Baez has not been good and Kyle Kendrick is shaky at times. Both have received limited chances.
Do the Phillies want those mop-up innings to go to Worley? I cannot speak for them, but likely answer is, "No." There are 133 games left in the season and I highly doubt Wednesday was Worley's final start. They will need him again, eventually, and why not keep him stretched out as a starter?
Because of that decision before, Worley was able to slip into the rotation seamlessly when Blanton was disabled. Kendrick has been rotation insurance in the past, but now he is not stretched out and that's why the nod went to Worley.
The 23-year-old may have shown he's ready to contribute on a major-league team, but not on this one. Remember these 12 innings, however, when the decision on Oswalt's $16 million option for 2012 comes to the forefront.
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- So what's your solution? You just keep signing guys to multi-million dollar salaries then let them walk at the first sign of any trouble while they continue to get paid? I think a lot of the posters here don't realize that guaranteed contracts in baseball define a lot of the parameters of what happens. No team -- even the Yankees -- could operate in the way many posters suggest. They'd have 300 million dollar payrolls with half of that going to guys sitting at home or playing somewhere else.
No one can tell me Blanton's last two games weren't good outings. Give the guy a break.
— s - Good thing you don't run the team Baabyrre. Knee jerk reaction with no reasoning behind your thoughts. A slob? Yea right! Respect? need a dictionary ? — pattymac3
- Blanton has been pitching exceptionally well for a 5th starter. Raul gets a few hits now everybody wants to jump on Joe. You guys, absent of any baseball knowledge, resort to finger pointing. If you don't have anything positive to say about your first place team, shut up!— Ron
- Don't get carried away. The kid has looked phenomenal so far in the bigs going back to last season (1.08 ERA in 25 inn.) But he has a 3.93 ERA in 4 seasons in the minors. At AAA he has a 3-5 with a 3.44 ERA. Like somebody else mentioned, there is a history of young pitchers, like Marty Bystrom, Pat Combs, etc. dominating in their few starts and then coming back to earth. Maybe is the adrenaline rush or because the league hasn't figure them out yet. Or both. Let him dominate at AAA first and them call him up at due time, unless there is an emergency again.— EL Zorro
- Im sorry but the Phillies would be out of their minds not to move Blanton into a long relief role until Worley faulters. Blanton has a 5.92 ERA and is 0-1. Worley is 2-0 with a spakling 0.75 ERA with 12 Ks in 12 Innings and all 4 of his walks issued in his debut vs the Mets. Im sick of hearing this "Blanton is a bulldog" nonsense. Worley is 23 and deserves a shot to keep it going. Not to mention, Worley just dominated the same lineup Blanton lost to giving up 5 ER. What am I missing here?— BirdsNthePs
- This article is bang-on. And this is the reason why trading Blanton was and is a bad idea. We have the luxurious position of having 5 serious starters... Our depth has the league green with envy. If we have Worley playing long-man with Kendrick, will he be this effective?
Keeping Worley competitive and developing every 5th day is the key... albeit at AAA.— mikezee - Good problem to have— dragoon6
- My vote has been to name Vance Worley the Phils 5th starter ever since the first time I saw him pitch. The kid is for real and he is the bonafide future of the Phils pitching staff. The Phils should have traded Blanton during spring training while he was still healthy and pitching well enough to be traded. The fact that they didn't trade him is ancient history. The question is what to do now. There are still teams looking, if not deperate, for starting pitching. So, here are a few ideas. 1) Trade Blanton to the Rangers for Michael Young who will probably become expendable once Hamilton returns from the DL. 2) Trade Blanton to the Mets for Jose Reyes, who can play second base, as well as shortstop. At the end of the season, the Phils will be able to decide which free agent shortstop to keep for the future. 3) Trade Blanton to the Yanks for Jorge Vasquez and one of the many extra catchers the Yanks currently have in their organization. The Phils need another power hitter in the lineup and Vasquez can play 3B, 1B, the outfield, and even catch in a pinch. There are many options the Phils have to improve their club, and most of them involve some kind of trade. As a starting pitcher, Blanton still has trade value. If the Phils won't or can't trade Blanton, they should move him to the bullpen immediately. He could probably help the Phils more out of the pen than a few of the other pitchers who have been getting shelled. Vance Worley is the future of the Phils pitching staff. Moving him out of the 5th starting spot would be the biggest mistake the Phils have made this year. With the roller coaster performance of their offense, it may be a mistake the Phils can't afford to make.
- I likeit, but why sell ourselves short. Follow your line of thinking to the logical conclusion, and we should trade Blanton to the fish for Josh Johnson, then we would have 5 primo starters! — filthyike
- This is a no brainer!!!!!! Send him down so he can continue to start regularly!!!! In all probability, we will need again. We will need him to be READY!! Don't let him sit around in our pen.— MJSI
- Of course if Lidge comes back and does well for a few games, he could be the guy some AL team wants in relief. Who knows how GM's think? Even Joe and Raul could be traded to the AL. Who would have thought that Vinc. Padilla would be now the closer for the Dodgers??— Koons
- Blanton is tremendous trade bait for the endless pitching poor teams. With Worley and Kendrick if needed, as the alternatives as fifth starter, the Phillies should pursue this avenue, I believe.They could certainly use some top prospect in the infield, as they age on the major league level.Perhaps a better back-up major league catcher is an option.— jsa
- Worley > Blanton. And Kendrick stinks.— ermatt
- It's amazing we're in first place with so many guys who flat out stink.— s
- The twin realities are that starting pitching is in short supply throughout the majors and Joe Blanton is overcompensated for what he brings to the table. In my mind, a good return in trade is a top catching prospect on a team where his progress is blocked. I don't have a name to provide. As long as you are not looking for cheap MLB-ready talent, then a Blanton trade is doable. As long as the Phils are moving in that direction, I don't care whether they showcase Blanton and send Worley down for a month or so. It would be a great development for the future of the team to have Bastardo, Stutes and Worley each performing well on the big team, come September or before. Most of us realize we will be losing some veterans, particularly out of the pen, this off-season. The Phils need to know what they have in these youngsters by the time that happens.— Claudio Vernight
